Door light switch



Sept. 15, 1942.

'L. R. BAUER EI'AL DOOR LIGHT SWITCH Filed May 13, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 D. ffiader INVENTORS.

IJLBaderv Sept. 15, 1942.

L.. R. BADER El AL nooa LIGHT swrrcu Filed m 13, 1941 I 2 Sheets-Sheet. 2

$3.3m): J.'CCBMQIY INVENTORS.

Patented Sept. 15, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DOOR LIGHT SWITCH Lowell R. Radar and Don C. Bader, Edison, Ohio Application May 13, 1941, Serial No. 393,254

1 Claim.

This invention aims to provide novel means whereby when a door-knob spindle is operated, a lamp will be lighted, to illuminate a keyhole.

It is within the province of the disclosure to improve generally and to enhance the utility of devices of that type to which the present invention appertains.

With the above and other objects in view, which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed, may be made within the scope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 shows in elevation, a device constructed in accordance with the invention, the parts being in the positions which they will assume when the lamp is extinguished;

Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing the parts as they will appear whilst the lamp is being lighted;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing the parts as they will appear whilst the mechanism is being actuated to put out the lamp, and before the parts have been restored to the position of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a vertical section;

Fig. 5 is a section taken through the contact lever and attendant parts;

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 66 of Fig. 4.

The numeral I marks a hollow barrier, such as the door of a house or of a motor car. The barrier I includes an outer wall 2 and an inner wall 3. walls 2 and 3 and is used to actuate latch mechanism, not shown, and forming no part of the present invention. A handle 34 is mounted on the shaft 4. The shaft 4 has circumferentially spaced seats 5, disposed in diametrically opposite relation.

Spring latches 6 are secured to the inner wall 3 and project toward the outer wall 2, the latches converging downwardly. The latches 6 are supplied with ball heads I, adapted to cooperate with the seats 5 in the shaft 4. Arcuate arms 8 are secured to the shaft 4, in oppositely disposed relation, the lower ends of the arms being spaced apart.

A stub shaft 9 is secured to the inner wall 3 of the barrier I and projects into the barrier. The stub shaft 9 has circumferentially spaced seats I0, located near together. A contact lever II is held intermediate its ends on the stub shaft 9 for swinging movement in a vertical plane. The

A shaft 4 is mounted for rotation in the contact lever II is provided in one side with an inclined bore I2.

An adjusting device I4, such as a screw, is movably mounted in the outer end of the bore I2. A detent I5 is slidably mounted in the bore I2 and is adapted to engage the seats II] of the stub shaft 9. The detent I5 is advanced by a compression spring I6, interposed between the adjusting device I4 and the detent. The upper end of the contact lever II extends into the space between the lower ends of the arms 8 on the shaft 4.

A piece of insulating material I! is held on the lower part of the contact lever II by a securing element I8. The securing element I8 holds an ofiset switch tongue I9 on the insulating material II. An ofiset bracket 20 is mounted on the inner wall 3 of the door I. A piece of insulating material 2I is held on the bracket 20 by a securing element 22. The securing element 22 holds switch tongues 23 on the insulating material 2|. The switch tongues 23 are terminally beveled to form a throat 24. The switch tongue I9 is beveled to an edge, as shown at 25, to enter the throat 24 and to make contact with the switch tongues 23.

An open bottomed hood 26 is secured to the outer surface of the outer wall 2 of the door I. An electric lamp 21 is detachably mounted in a socket 28, carried by the wall 2 and located within the hood 26. A locking mechanism 29 is carried by the outer wall 2 of the door I. The specific construction of the locking mechanism 29 is of no consequence, aside from the fact that it embodies a keyhole 3I or something else that has to be made visible in darkness, before the locking mechanism can be actuated by an operator, to permit the door I to be opened.

The lamp 21 may be grounded at one side. It is interposed in an electrical circuit comprising a conductor 32 held by the securing element I8 on the switch tongue I9, and a conductor 33 held on the switch tongues 23 by the securing element 22.

When the handle 34 is in the horizontal position of Fig. 1, the shaft 4 is held releasably against rotation, due to the fact that the ball heads I of the spring latches 6 are engaged in the seats 5 of the shaft. The contact lever II is held releasably in the vertical position shown, because the detent I5 is engaged in the uppermost seat In (Fig. 5) of the fixed stub shaft 9. The switch tongues I9 and 23 are spaced apart, the lamp circuit 3233 is open, and the lamp 2! is extinguished.

By way of the handle 34, the shaft 4 is rotated counterclockwise to the position of Fig. 2. The left hand arm 8 tilts the lever H, the lever closes the tongue [9 on the tongues 23, the lamp circuit 3233 is closed, the lamp 2! is lighted, and the keyhole 3| is illuminated.

By means of the handle 34, the shaft 4 is 1'0- tated clockwise, to the position of Fig. 3, to unlatch the door I, the right hand arm tilts the lever back to vertical position, the switch tongue 19 is spaced from the switch tongues 23, the lamp circuit 32-33 is opened, and the lamp 2! is extinguished.

Ultimately, the shaft 4 and the handle 34 resume the position of Fig. 1, the left hand arm 8 being spaced from the lever I I, as in Fig. 1, the lamp circuit remaining open.

If the operator wishes to depart from the house, car, or other structure on which the device is used, and still have the lamp 2'! burning, the door remaining closed, this can be accomplished by disposing the parts in the position depicted in Fig. 2.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

Switch mechanism comprising a support, a shaft rotatable in the support, a handle on the shaft, oppositely-disposed arms carried by the shaft, and having free ends, between which there is a space, a fixed shaft mounted on the support and having circumferentially spaced seats, a lever fulcrumed intermediate its ends on the fixed shaft, one end portion of the lever extending into said space, said space being large enough to enable the first-specified shaft to be rotated without always actuating the lever, a springactuated detent carried by the lever, a switch terminal mounted directly on the opposite end portion of the lever, a cooperating switch terminal fixedly mounted on the support, the detent being engageable with the seats, one at a time, to hold the switch terminal of the lever in and out of engagement with the terminal on the support, and spring means mounted on the support and engaging the firstspecified shaft to maintain the free ends of both arms releasably spaced from said one end portion of the lever.

LOWELL R. BADER. DON C. BADER. 

